Recently Indians whine being called "keling" again in malaysia. Keling is an orthodox word to identify Indians. It now become a racial slur and Indians will not want people to understand why.
Reason is Keling is LIAR in modern Malay-Indonesian language today, due to Malays perceive of Indians as a liar.
Then Indians get angry, They start saying Keling is racial slur. Indians really hate Malay for attributing liar on them.
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It is regrettable that Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) still includes the word
Keling in referring to a person of South Indian origin on its website without specifying that the word is generally deemed derogatory by Indian communities nowadays.
The refusal of DBP's director-general Abang Sallehuddin Abg Shokeran to apologise over the use of the word also clearly shows the organisation’s lack of sensitivity towards the feelings and sentiments of Indian communities.
Although the word
Keling originated from Kalinga, an ancient Indian kingdom, and had no derogatory slur, it was later used by certain people to insult the Indians. In other words, it had become a racial slur towards Indian communities.
If Indian communities generally perceived the word derogatory and racist, DBP should accept it and specify in its website and dictionaries that it is considered a derogatory word by Indian communities nowadays.
Only then we can prevent or minimise unnecessary misunderstanding.
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